Jean-Luc received a telegram from a retired army officer working for the Hesperion trading company. We were requested to meet him at their HQ in the morning. They ran a trading fort called Fort Dickerson in the desert under command of a Lionel Perry. Soldiers who were due back from fort had failed to arrive. He wanted us to join an expedition to discover what had happened to them and as he was willing to pay £20 each per day we readily agreed. The fort was about 12 days journey into the desert, so after making preparations we set out with a group of Hesperion guards.

We had been travelling for four days when another caravan was seen in the distance moving towards us. Tarquin went ahead with Jean-Luc and another guard to investigate. The caravan was made up of a group of canal Martians. Tarquin and Jean-Luc bought some glass swords from them. The canal Martians warned that a group of hill Martians called Seletti were raiding caravans in the area.

After another five days another group of canal martians were spotted. Tarquin rode out with Jean-Luc to speak to them. They said they had sensed death at the fort and had avoided it.

Another two days and only a day away from the fort Tarquin came across a Martian corpse. It had been shot several times. Maxfield examined the corpse and determined the bullets were British but we were unable to determine what type of Martian it was.

We arrived at the fort a day later. There was no signs of movement except some Martian carrion birds circling overhead and the fort gate was slightly ajar. Tarquin an a guard rode forward to the gate. Inside they saw dead bodies everywhere. When they entered they found a piece of wood nailed to the watchtower with the word Seletti painted on it in blood. The bodies had no evidence of wounds other than from the carrion birds.

Maxfield gave a bucket of water to a horse to check if the well had been poisoned though it turned out not to be. We investigated the fort. One of the towers had an empty mount where a machine gun had been and the boarding house showed signs of hasty packing. John Wilson and Peter Hobbs were the last two people to have booked in. The door to the armoury had been forced open and about a dozen rifles with ammunition were missing as well as all the machine gun ammunition.

We found the notebook belonging to a Dr Whitehouse in the laboratory. It discussed a dig at the fort and a discovery. Reference was made to a lens of Torbash and a lens of Fibash. At the dig we found where a large stone had been moved revealing a void behind. Inside we found an antechamber with runes on the wall. Maxfield thought some of the runes represented Fibash. A short crawl way lead to a second antechamber. The floor had mosaics of canal Martians holding staffs with large gems up to the sun. A box had the remains of some fine cloth inside but nothing else.

In a trench at the we found the body of an elderly gentleman who had been shot in the head. He wore a tag with the name Whitehouse. We found the bodies of the cook and his assistant lying in the pantry and a broken jar labelled Termuaa laying nearby with a dried green powder spilled out.

The infirmary was full of bodies and there was a broken jar of a brown powder labelled malt powder on the floor. The commander was sitting at his desk with an empty glass. There were notes saying the doctor had been treating people with the malt powder for stomach upsets. The fort log last entry was on the 13th April and stated Wilson and Hobbs had arrived to purchase supplies and left 2 days later then shortly after people became sick. As it was now the 16th May it suggested the forts problems had started about a month ago, about when some of the soldiers were due to leave for Syrtis Major. Other log entries of interest were:
5th March. A fist fight with a group of Martians called Seletti ended with some of the Martians being gunned down.
3rd April. Dr Whitehouse reported making a great find. Next to the entry was a doodle of a gem.

The bodies accounted for all but three of the military personnel, but there was only one civilian body, Dr Whitehouse. We set out with one of the guards, Walker, to find Wilson and Hobbs while the rest of the guards remained to man the fort. The Martians we had met on the way to the fort had given us some idea of where we might find the Seletti. After 3 days searching we finally came across a hut on a hillside. As we approached the hut we saw a tall thin figure in the trees. It was a Martian dressed in a fur tunic. It looked very old and was holding a spear. It shouted and another 8 appeared. Tarquin approached saying we came in peace. The old Martian approached then lowered its spear and started accusing us of killing Martians.

It told a tale of them having come to the fort to trade. It said there had been an altercation, that soldiers made remarks which required retribution. There had been a fight and 8 Martians had been gunned down. They claimed to know nothing about the dead at the fort. It knew of Termuaa which was a weed which grew by canals, used to clean leather and as a preservative but could kill if taken in quantity. They had heard of Wilson and Hobbs and had an agreement with them. They built the hut and hunted on the Martians land in exchange for some of what they caught.

Wilson and Hobbs also had a cave about 2 days away and the Martians provided directions. Tarquin fought a Martian female as they said they respected honour by strength and she challenged him. After she hit Tarquin a few times he was able to pin her to the ground until she surrendered. She then kissed Tarquin and was told she now desired him. When Tarquin expressed disinterest in mating with a Martian the old Martian told him she was now his slave. As she spoke no English the old Martian gave Tarquin a few commands in Martian he could say to her.

The hut looked abandoned and had not been used for a while so we set out to find the cave with Tarquins pet Martian following. We had been travelling a day when we came across a figure lying face down. It was a human whose clothes were drenched in blood. He was crawling slowly as we approached and we could see he had been shot. It smelt like his wounds were badly infected. He said he was John Wilson and that Hobbs had been killed by three guards named Hornesy, Wicks and Holt. They had helped the guards steal the gems but the guards had then betrayed and attacked them. They wanted the gems and poisoned the rest of the garrison to get them. The civilians had been taken as slaves and were being held at the cave.

Maxfield nodded to the Martian who put him out of his misery. After burying him we continued another day to the cave. They had the machine gun set up outside in some boulders. We waited until night then crept up. Walker shot the guard manning the gun, stunning him, then Tarquin and the Martian charged. The Martian threw a spear, killing the guard. The other two were in the cave holding hostages. As Tarquin charged them, one shot his hostage then fired at him. The Martian responded by skewering the one who had fired at Tarquin.

The other guard started backing out of the cave with his hostage. Tarquin nudged his Martian who threw her spear at the guard, distracting him and giving me the opportunity to shoot him in the head. We found the broken remains of two large gems on one of the guards. We returned to the Seletti where Tarquin vouched for her bravery and asked them to take her back, but the female Martian refused to return to them as she wanted to serve Tarquin. However Tarquin insisted she stay with them and she accepted her fate unhappily.

We then returned to the fort with the civilians and reported what happened. After resting we returned to Syrtis Major.